A large share of the sources needed for genealogical research is now freely available online. Here are the essentials for finding information about your ancestors.
Regional and national archives
Many countries publish digitised archives online for free: parish registers, civil records (births, marriages, deaths), censuses, land and military records. In France, each department’s “Archives départementales” offers free access.
Coverage and usability vary, but consultation is free and open.
National statistics and death records
National statistics offices often publish open death records. In France, INSEE releases the file of deceased people since 1970, downloadable and reusable — valuable for finding a recent date and place of death.
Large collaborative databases
FamilySearch, free of charge, offers billions of indexed records and many digitised registers. Geneanet provides broad free access to collaborative extracts and community-shared trees.
These databases save precious time, but always verify information against the original source (the actual record).
Digital libraries and collections
Digital libraries such as Gallica (France’s national library) give access to old newspapers, books and maps. Dedicated projects list military records and other specialised collections. Many libraries and genealogy societies also publish free extracts.
Gather and keep your findings
As you research, structure your data in a GEDCOM file. With Genea World, you can open and correct it directly in your browser, with no installation and without any data leaving your device.
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